76ers amazed by Embiid

The Philadelphia 76ers staff and players are all equally amazed by Joel Embiid, and with good reason. Against the Utah Jazz on Sunday, he put up the best performance of his career, scoring 59 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, and seven blocked shots to lead the Sixers to a 105-98 victory. If you’re doing the math, Embiid accounted for over half of the 76er’s total points.

“I’ve seen how guys score a lot of points,” said Sixers coach Doc Rivers. “I haven’t seen guys score a lot of points, rebound, and then the blocked shots. That was impressive. He was just getting everything. I’ve never seen a more dominating performance when you combine defense and offense.”

That performance made history as Embiid became the first player to ever score 50 points, 10 boards, five rebounds, five assists, and five blocks in one game. It also happened to be the fifth-best scoring performance in 76ers history behind Wilt Chamberlain, who holds the top three, and Allen Iverson.

“He’s a soldier! He was coming in saying his shoulder was hurting,” said 76ers teammate Tyrese Maxey. “For him to go out here and play and give it his all, it’s huge. It’s huge for this team, huge for this organization. For your best player, after a 42-point performance last night, on the back-to-back, he comes out here and he dominates again.”

Embiid indeed scored 42 points the night before against the Atlanta Hawks and did all of this after recovering from being sick. His 101 total points in the last two games made him just the third player since 1988 to score over 100 points on a back-to-back.

Maxey summed it up simply: “He’s really good at basketball.”

Embiid and the Sixers will take on the Milwaukee Bucks this Friday after a few days of rest.